CÉSAIRE, Suzanne – GLOBAL SOCIAL THEORY
▻https://globalsocialtheory.org/thinkers/cesaire-suzanne
On parle beaucoup d’Aimé, mais... #Suzanne_Césaire
Suzanne Césaire (1915- 1966) was a theorist affiliated with the négritude movement and with surrealism. She was one of the first theorists to emphasise the potential of the multi-ethnic and multi-natural composition of the Caribbean and called for an experimental cultural appropriation rather than a return to essences or assimilation.
Most of Césaire’s work was published in the Martinican cultural journal Tropiques, which she co-founded along with her husband Aimé and fellow lycée teachers. Published during the fascist Vichy government, the journal established a dialogue with surrealism both as a means of cultural liberation and as a means to obscure political messages for the censors. In her contributions, Suzanne Césaire heavily reappropriated colonial stereotypes such as the ‘cannibal’ and the ‘lazy negro’ as provocations for both coloniser and colonised to re-examine deeply internalised (self)perceptions. This strategy of inversion was even used in a letter of protest against the impending censorship of the journal.